Office of the Historian

810.74/390: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State

London, August 3, 1942—5 p.m.
[Received August 3—4 p.m.]

4321. The contents of the Department’s telegram No. 3444, July 24, 4 p.m.,52 were duly conveyed to the Foreign Office. In accordance with our request the latter have instructed their Embassies at Buenos Aires and Santiago to afford all possible assistance to General Davis. In addition they say that they have kept the aforesaid Embassies informed of all developments. They say that while we may rest assured that General Davis will be given the fullest support in dealing with the Chilean authorities, it seems “a little premature” to make formal representations to the Chilean Government in advance of the report which General Davis is expected to make.

In view of the foregoing it would be helpful, if the Department desires that British representations be made at Santiago prior to General Davis’ survey of the situation, if the Embassy could be furnished with more detailed background information.

(While the Foreign Office fully shares our views as to the desirability of severing communications between the Axis countries and Argentina and Chile, they are at present inclined to feel that steps to that end through the Consortium Trust Affiliates in the latter countries would only result in their substitution by purely Axis controlled communications companies with the added disadvantage that we would not as at present be able to obtain complete and highly useful knowledge of the messages which are being sent. This is however only a preliminary view and if we can convince the Foreign Office and other interested authorities of the greater advantages of attempting to close down the Corsortium Trust Affiliates they are quite prepared to cooperate).

Winant
  1. Not printed; this telegram gave information regarding developments to be transmitted to the British Foreign Office, and urged that the Foreign Office instruct the British Ambassador in Chile to suggest to the Chilean Government that it close the existing telecommunication circuits with the Axis (810.74/383c).↩